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“Today I lost my great aunt, Dr. Nina Mikhoels, my Ninulya, who helped raise me as though I was her own and it feels like one of my protective battlements is down.”

I wrote on my Facebook wall. And it felt feeble.

Ninulya is my first and now I know what it feels like. A battlement is down and I am slightly more exposed to the elements for it. The wind blows colder against my skin, harsh words penetrate deeper.

Then Tali emailed me and said:

“It’s hard for me to imagine this. Dying is the opposite of her. She’s all fire and pillars of smoke”.

Fire and pillars of smoke. My auntie – perfectly summarized

Then Anya added:

Despite living through events that could’ve turned anybody into a skeptical human-hater, Ninulia had the largest heart and the most generous spirit. She had an immense ability to be positive, to believe…

I am away from Alan. For some reason now I miss his dumbass. Even tho he never stopped yelling at me. Its’ been three days and I am homesick. For fucks sakes what is wrong with me? I just can’t seem to get it together. One minute I hate his guts and the next minute I am missing him. Something must be broken within me. Why would anyone miss being yelled at and told they were worthless.? Why I ask you why>

Traina suffered from serious bipolar disorder. During his short life he had already been hospitalized for several times for his illness; he had survived two previous suicide attempts.

Two months before his suicide he had left the San Francisco punk and ska band Link 80. He had been in this group since he was 16, and in many of their songs he was the lead singer.

Mother and Son

Nick Traina’s death got extra attention because his mother was the very popular, bestselling novelist Danielle Steel. Born from Steel’s failed marriage with heroin addict William Toth, Nick had been adopted by her next husband John Traina.

After her son’s suicide, Steel wrote a book to describe how he had struggled with his depressions (and the related drug abuse). In the…

When a ship from an Ebola-plagued nation docks on American shores with a crew full of sick passengers, by all means, we should bring them into the country and treat them.

But don’t worry – the CDC figured it was probably fine.

According to a release from the CDC, the ship was reported to have traveled to a port in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and others in Africa. Officials immediately downplayed the likelihood that the sickness was related to an outbreak of Ebola in that part of the world.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the crew members traveled to, or had any contact with anyone from the remote island region of DRC where Ebola cases are occurring. Given this, the chance that the crew member could have Ebola is thought to be exceedingly low,” the CDC stated. (source